“No,” he said, pausing to press a small kiss against her lips before he headed over to the group screaming for Danni to let go, “you would have torn that poor bastard apart by now.”

“Well, that’s comforting,” Cloe said dryly as she followed after him.

“I’m sure it is,” he returned as he walked around the group struggling to get Danni under control and protect Chris. Without pausing, he grabbed the screaming male by the arm, yanked him out of Danni’s grip and dragged him over to the screaming female by the woods.

“Go,” he simply said as he released his hold on the male and sent the couple running for their lives.

“Oh, shit!” Chris yelped, dragging his attention back to the group and to the woman now trying to climb over her mate and Ephraim to get to Chris, who was now pressed back against the pain in the ass shifter. Kale struggled against his chains as he yelled at Danni to stop.

That was interesting….

But something that he was going to have to worry about at another time since Cloe had taken it upon herself to help out. With a muttered curse, he walked over to the group, grabbed Cloe just as Danni snarled a warning to get the hell out of her way. With a sigh, he threw Cloe over his shoulder and carried her over to the van and put her down with another swift kiss, simply because he couldn’t help himself.

“See if any of the blood is still cold,” he said abruptly as he turned to-

“Mother f**ker!” Chris shouted as Danni somehow managed to squirm her way between Ephraim and Caine and sank her teeth in Chris’ broken arm.

Sighing, he walked back to the group, leaned over Chris and pinched Danni’s nose closed. He ignored everything around him and just focused on the stubborn woman refusing to release her hold on the Sentinel reciting every swear imaginable. Shimmering red eyes shifted to him and narrowed as she released what she probably thought was a vicious growl, but really, it was just too damn cute to be taken seriously.

She didn’t need air to live, but without it, swallowing that sweet blood that was now permeating the air became damn near impossible. It took her a good minute to realize that she had to let go and when she did, he was ready. With a snarl, she released her hold on Chris and went for him. Before anyone could react, he had her on her stomach and was pinning her down with his knee.

“Don’t f**king hurt her!” Caine roared, reaching for him, but Ephraim grabbed him by the arm and held him back before he could do anything to make Christofer lose his hold on Danni.

“Relax,” he said to no one in particular as he reached down, grabbed Danni and Caine by their wrists and yanked, breaking the small chain connecting their handcuffs. As soon as her hand was free she began thrashing beneath him, desperate to get free, desperate for blood.

“Any of that blood cold, mein Schatz?” he asked, keeping just enough pressure on Danni’s back to keep her down.

She really was a weak little thing, he thought with a frown as he reached over and broke Caine’s other cuff, deciding that it would probably keep the other man from going into bloodlust if he could hold his mate. The second that Caine’s chain broke he was by Danni’s side, holding her hand and calmly promising to put her over his knee and spanking her ass until it was black and blue for scaring the shit out of him.

“This cooler is still cold,” Cloe said, dragging the large cooler over to him. He opened his mouth to tell her that she could probably lift that thing with one hand, but decided against it since it would probably lead to more of her “experimenting.”

He shifted his attention from his mate’s long, tanned legs to Caine. “Think you can get her to eat if I flip her over?”

“Yes,” Caine answered hoarsely, reluctantly releasing his mate’s hand.

Within seconds, he had the growling, snarling woman on her back, her hands pinned to her stomach with one arm and was reaching with the other for Ephraim’s chain, deciding that an extra set of hands couldn’t hurt. With a flick of his fingers he broke the chain. Ephraim didn’t waste any time. He moved until he was sitting behind Danni and then just as quickly, propped the pissed off woman’s head on his lap so that Caine could feed her. He watched as the Pyte bit into his wrist and placed it against Danni’s mouth as he released her hand so that he could stick a bag of blood against his teeth.

“How did you do that?” Ephraim asked, looking truly confused.

He opened his mouth to answer, but he never got the chance as Kale made an announcement that he fully supported.

“I’m a f**king idiot,” the shifter said with a humorless chuckle. “He’s ion.”

“He’s what?” Chris asked, cringing in pain as he shifted his bleeding arm against his chest.

“He’s a pure Pyte,” Kale said as though that made any sense to them.

“What the hell are you saying?” Christofer demanded, looking up from the struggling woman.

“He’s saying,” Ephraim said, drawing his attention to find the other Pyte looking at him curiously, “that your father is really f**king old.”

Chapter 49

Williams’ Mansion

“Chris!”

The excited squeal drew Cloe’s attention to a short woman standing at the top of the grand staircase with beautiful long blonde hair, a huge smile and an even bigger stomach. When the woman took an unsteady step down, Chris and Ephraim tried to go to her, but since Ephraim was still supporting most of Chris’ weight, he’d barely stumbled two feet before Kale shoved past him and raced up the stairs to stop her from taking another step.

She watched as Kale swooped the smiling woman off her feet and proceeded to carry her down the stairs. About halfway down the stairs her smile faltered and her expression of pure joy quickly turned to dread.

“Ummm, maybe you should bring me back upstairs?” the woman suggested, keeping her eyes locked on the foyer as she nudged Kale several times to turn around.

“Don’t you want to see your mate?” Kale asked, his tone mocking as he glared down at the woman in his arms.

“Ummm no, that’s okay,” she said, licking her lips anxiously as she shot another nervous look down at the foyer where they all waited.

Curious, Cloe followed the other woman’s gaze and found herself taking a step closer to Christofer and thanking God that the murderous look on Chris’ face wasn’t directed at her. Since the woman wasn’t screaming for help, Cloe stayed where she was, watching the scene unfold with morbid curiosity.

“You haven’t seen him in two weeks, no doubt you’re eager for a reunion,” Kale said casually as he walked down the stairs, bringing the panic stricken woman closer and closer to her doom. Cloe listened as the woman’s heartbeat quickened with every passing second.

“I’m more tired than anything,” the woman said, adding a really loud, and really fake yawn at the end that for some reason, she couldn’t explain, had Cloe biting back a smile.

“You can take a nap afterwards,” Kale said, taking that final step down.

“But I would really like one now,” the woman insisted, swallowing nervously as she grabbed onto Kale’s shirt and held on.

“And I would really like to know why you were trying to use the stairs,” Chris said, pushing away from his father to go to the woman that Cloe was assuming was his wife or mate, or whatever the hell they called each other.